PacSun Manages Same-Store Sales Gain

Anaheim-based action sports retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. posted a gain in same-store sales and a narrower-than-expected loss in the April quarter, both signs of progress in a turnaround that’s been three years in the making.

Shares of PacSun fell slightly on the news, finishing the day with a market value of about $80 million.

Sales at PacSun stores open at least a year rose 1% from a year earlier, to $173.8 million.

Analysts had expected $171.8 million in revenue.

The company lost $15.6 million during the period, compared with a $28.7 million loss a year earlier. Analysts on average expected the company to lose $16.3 million for the quarter.

Chief Executive Gary Schoenfeld said the company got a boost from sales of footwear, accessories and shorts during the second half of the quarter.

“February has been a challenging transition month … [but] when spring kicked in, we had a very nice back half of the quarter,” he said during a conference call. “We look at summer as an extension of spring rather than thinking we need to do something dramatically different.”

Pacific Sunwear expects same-store sales to range from a decline of 1% to a gain of 4% in the current quarter.

The company closed five stores and opened one this quarter, and it now operates a chain of 729 stores that sell clothes, shoes and accessories inspired by surfing, snowboarding and skateboarding. It had 827 stores at the end of April last year.

Chief Financial Officer Michael Kaplan said the company still expects to close 100 additional stores, most of which will occur after this year’s holiday season.